Artists House was a jazz and blues record company and label established in 1977 by John Snyder.
History
The label released music by artists that label founder John Snyder had worked with while running the
Horizon
The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...
subsidiary of
A&M Records
A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...
, including
Jim Hall,
Paul Desmond
Paul Desmond (born Paul Emil Breitenfeld; November 25, 1924 – May 30, 1977) was an American jazz alto saxophone, alto saxophonist and composer, best known for his work with the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for composing that group's biggest hit, " ...
,
Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...
, and
Ornette Coleman
Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Colle ...
. The label was the first in North America to release an album by
James Blood Ulmer
James "Blood" Ulmer (born February 8, 1940) is an American jazz, free funk and blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer plays a Gibson Byrdland guitar. His guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging". His singing has been called "ragge ...
. Artist House reportedly gave its recording artists control over music selection, production and packaging.
In addition to working with jazz artists, Snyder also produced blues musicians including
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (April 18, 1924 – September 10, 2005) was an American singer and multi-instrumentalist from Louisiana. He won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 1983 for his album, ''Alright Again!''.
Early life
Br ...
,
James Cotton
James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career.
...
, and
Etta James
Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul. Starting her career in 1954, sh ...
, and the blues-rock
Derek Trucks Band
The Derek Trucks Band was an American blues rock group founded by young slide guitar prodigy Derek Trucks, who began playing guitar and touring with some of blues and rock music's elite when he was just nine years old. After experimenting as an a ...
.
Snyder released new blues band Scrapomatic in 2002. Artists House also released
Nancy Harrow
Nancy Harrow (born October 3, 1930, New York City) is an American jazz singer and songwriter.
Career
Harrow studied classical piano beginning at age seven, then decided to pursue careers in dancing and singing.
She released an album for Candid ...
, Oteil & The Peacemakers, Jason Crosby, Bob Brookmeyer & Kenny Wheeler, Steve Haines Quintet, Vijay Lytev albums in 2003. Artists House released Nancy Harrow CD "The Cat Who Went to Heaven" in 2005. Snyder is currently president of Artists House Foundation.
Discography
Artists House released fourteen LPs between 1978 and 1981.
Artists House relaunched in 2003 releasing CDs, DVDs and multimedia discs.
All About Jazz: ''A Fireside Chat With Producer John Snyder''
accessed December 5, 2019
See also
* Free jazz
Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...
* blues rock
Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...
* Scrapomatic
Scrapomatic is an American blues trio, consisting of Paul Olsen, Mike Mattison and Dave Yoke. Mattison and Olsen formed the band as a duo in the mid-1990s, and often opened for The Derek Trucks Band, which Mattison served as lead vocalist fr ...
* Derek Trucks
Derek Trucks (born June 8, 1979) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and founder of The Derek Trucks Band. He became an official member of The Allman Brothers Band in 1999. In 2010, he formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife, blues sing ...
References
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Jazz record labels